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PHOTO GALLERY
West Hartford, Conn. – The Hartford women's basketball team earned a date with the 2011 national runner-up Notre Dame with a 54-45 win over Long Island in the quarterfinals of the Preseason WNIT on Sunday afternoon at the Chase Family Arena. The Hawks improve to 2-0 overall and will now play in the WNIT semifinals on Thursday in South Bend. Tip-off against Notre Dame is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Hartford (2-0 overall) was led, for the second straight game, by junior post Ruthanne Doherty who finished with the team's first double double of the year with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Doherty finished the game shooting 8-of-17 from the field, while also contributing three assists and grabbing a team-high four steals. Her four steals tied fellow classmate Daphne Elliott for the team high, while Elliott was also second on the team in scoring with nine points and rebounding with seven boards.
Alyssa Englert rounded out the Hawks leading scorers with eight points, while Nikkia Smith chipped in six. Englert led the Hawks with five of the team's 11 assists. Overall, the Hawks were outshot by their opponent, finishing the game with a 19-of-59 effort for 32.2 percent. Long Island (1-1 overall) finished the game shooting 19-of-57 for 33.3 percent. The Blackbirds were led by Ashley Palmer who also finished with a double double on 18 points and 10 boards.
Hartford came out of the gates sluggish for the second-straight game, this time allowing the Blackbirds to take a 9-0 lead within the first three-plus minutes. Freshman Amber Bepko, starting her second collegiate game, broke up the opening run for Long Island and put the Hawks on the board with a layup.
The Blackbirds extended its lead back to nine two more times before the Hawks used a 7-0 run to pull within two, 13-11, with 12:21 remaining before the break. Four of those points came in the post as Doherty and Smith provided buckets, while Elliott providing the three other points on a long range bucket off a feed from Englert.
The Hawks defense stepped up to hold Long Island to just four points in the final 12 minutes of the first half, including nothing over the last seven minutes of the stanza. That defense allowed Hartford to eventually tie the game at 17 and take the first and final lead of the game, which came on a three pointer from Cherelle Moore, her first bucket from beyond 21 feet at the college level.
The Hawks would get one more bucket before the break with Taylor Clark giving Hartford a 22-17 lead with 27 seconds remaining before heading to the locker room. That would be Clark's only bucket of the game as she also finished the game with four rebounds.
Hartford defense would continue its pressure in the early minutes of the second half, holding their opponent without a bucket for the first five-plus minutes, a total of 12:28 without a point for Long Island. That drought allowed the Hawks to take their first double digit lead of the game 27-17, which came on a layup from Doherty with 17:56 to play.
Long Island broke its scoring drought after more than five minutes were played in the second half. Having missed their first three attempts and committing six turnovers in the first five minutes of the half, Cleandra Roberts stopped the Hawks momentum with a layup. Neither team would score over the two minutes until Ashley Palmer made it two-straight buckets for the Blackbirds scoring with 12:19 to play.
Following a jumper from Doherty, again off a feed from Englert, the Blackbirds managed to cut the Hawks lead to four with 10:41 to play before the break. After trading baskets for the next four-plus minutes, Hartford used a 5-0 run to retake a double digit lead at 41-29 with 6:15 to play. Doherty would again provide the bucket that led to the lead, converting an old fashioned three point play.
Long Island wasn't going down without a fight, battling to pull within one possession with just under four minutes left in the game. Following Doherty's three points, the Blackbirds would use an 11-2 stretch, capped off once against by a Roberts basket.
The Hawks would rebound with a 7-0 run over their own to extend the lead back into double digits with 1:35 to play. Long Island responded with a three pointer from She'tiarra Pledger and following a pair of misses would pull within six with 26 seconds remaining, but that was as close as the visitors would get. Hartford would connect on three of four free throws in the final seconds and secure the date with Notre Dame, who entered the 2012 season as the second ranked team in the nation in both the coaches poll and the Associated Press top-25.
